# Accents



## Jester (May 22, 2010)

What is yours?

Personally I tend to switch between a New England accent and a Southern accent. Neither of which I should truly have because I've lived in Montana my whole life. But my whole family is from New England, So I've picked it up quite a bit from talking to them.  Really no clue where the Southern accent came from though.


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## Minish (May 22, 2010)

Bog-standard English accent. Basically just a boring form of RP but not as posh.

I say PYOR not PYUR (pure) and YIR not YEER (year) though when nobody else here does. I've got random Welsh and Scottish bits from when I used to live there.


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## opaltiger (May 22, 2010)

First it was Australian. Then it was some unholy combination of Australian and Irish. Now it's more English than anything else, but not much of that either.


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## Kratos Aurion (May 22, 2010)

Standard American English; on rare occasions I will lapse into either a New York or Southern accent when I speak quickly or carelessly, but yeah. I don't have an accent as far as Americans are concerned.

I would love to hear what an Australian-Irish accent sounds like, though.


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## spaekle (May 22, 2010)

I think I have "Generic American Accent" most of the time, although my friends say when I'm really mad I grow a West Virginia accent. :(


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## Arylett Charnoa (May 22, 2010)

Same as both Kratos and Spaekle really. I ask my friends what accent I have and they say I don't really have a specific regional one, it's just a Generic one. Sometimes I'll have some hints of Spanish pronunciation in my words though, I guess due to me learning Spanish first. (I'm far more fluent in English than in Spanish though and consider it my primary language.)

Sometimes too, because I talk to British people so much, a bit of their own accents slip in and I get all mixed up and confused. 

In general though, my pronunciation in some cases is really whacked out, and makes little sense because I've always had problems pronouncing things. I was born in the North, went to the South when I was 7 (and am still there as of this moment), but raised by parents who came from another Spanish speaking country, so I guess all of that sort of mixed into this weird Generic American thing.


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## Flareth (May 22, 2010)

I don't really have one, but I do sometimes slip into a little country twang , probably because country music is my favorite genre.


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## Greed (May 22, 2010)

I have a southern accent, I've lived in NC too long T_T


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## Wargle (May 23, 2010)

I used to have Australian, but had random British (yes there is a difference) bits and words blended in. But later then somehow it combined and gave me a kind of British - Australian accent. I can also pull of a Southern really well, since I was forced to learn it for a play, but it is rare.


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## Green (May 23, 2010)

Oklahoma/hick with a slight Arab tone due to being half-Lebanese.

When I say "y'all" it comes out retarded.


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## Tailsy (May 23, 2010)

Guys, _everyone_ has an accent.

Scottish, obviously, but it's flatter than what you'd hear on TV (because Violent Glaswegians are the _only_ people in Scotland according to even Scottish TV).


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## Zora of Termina (May 23, 2010)

I've got a Standard American Accent normally, with a bit of southern in there 'cause half my family's from Kansas so I'm around them a lot. When I get mad though I tend to start talking in one of those "inner-city rapper kid" accents. I'm really not sure why that is.


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## Thanks for All the Fish (May 23, 2010)

I don't have a strong Jersey accent, but it's probably there. I mean compared to everyone else, it's not there at all, but traveling outside the state? I stick out. 

In Spanish, my accent is more "Americanized" then normal, but very Peruvian, or 'cholo' as my folks call it.


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## Kratos Aurion (May 23, 2010)

Jessie said:


> Guys, _everyone_ has an accent.


Of course everyone has _an_ accent; it's just how much it deviates from whatever the "standard" for that country's accent is. Hence "as far as Americans are concerned".

...this is all assuming that you'd equate "standard" with "unaccented", which I suppose isn't necessarily true depending on how you look at it. People do look at it that way, though, so. :I


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## Tailsy (May 23, 2010)

Kratos Aurion said:


> Of course everyone has _an_ accent; it's just how much it deviates from whatever the "standard" for that country's accent is. Hence "as far as Americans are concerned".
> 
> ...this is all assuming that you'd equate "standard" with "unaccented", which I suppose isn't necessarily true depending on how you look at it. People do look at it that way, though, so. :I


Well uh, they're wrong? Having a _standard_ accent for your country != unaccented. 

I don't really understand what you're saying...?


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## Kratos Aurion (May 23, 2010)

Presumably the standard accent is the baseline from which other accents are deviating. If you equate standard with unaccented, then when you're asked what "accent" you have, you're asked about your deviation from the standard.

That isn't the correct definition of accent, and I know that, but at least in the United States a Standard/General AmE accent is often considered "unaccented" or even "proper". Ask an American whether or not I speak with an accent, and they will probably say no.

EDIT:



			
				Wikipedia's Accent article said:
			
		

> When a group defines a standard pronunciation, speakers who deviate from it are  often said to "speak with an accent". People from the United  States would "speak with an accent" from the point of view of an Australian, and vice versa. Accents such as BBC English or General American may sometimes be erroneously designated  in their countries of origin as "accentless" to indicate that they offer  no obvious clue to the speaker's regional background.


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## Togetic (May 23, 2010)

I think I have a kinda Australian, although I can hardly tell anymore.


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## Involuntary Twitch (May 23, 2010)

By all rights I should have a Bahston accent (that's "boston") but as far as I can tell I don't; it's just standard American with a little touch of this and that.


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## Storm Earth and Fire (May 23, 2010)

Most of the time, General American. I can speak Southern American English to a degree. English English isn't challenging at all, but regional slang is out of my reach.

I've been told my destiny is to be a voice actor because I can do a myriad of accents.


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## ultraviolet (May 23, 2010)

since I live in Western Australia I have more of a british-like accent (edit: it's called 'british received/general Austalian English'; less like Steve Irwin and more like Jesse Spencer). I've heard that australian english is the most relaxed of accents so we can imitate other accents really well. Or something. I've been told I can pull off an American accent pretty well~

But australian english is awesome fun. Where else can you go to the servo in the arvo to get some snags for the barbie?

I'm also aware Australian english tends to end on a high, so everything ends like a question? And I'm told not many other countries do that?


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## @lex (May 23, 2010)

I guess I could do both some sort of standard American and standard British.

But it's my Swedish accent that really shines! Oh yeah, I'm an ace there!

...I'm trying so hard to wean from it ,_,


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## Murkrow (May 23, 2010)

Welsh accent. Cardiffian specifically but it isn't very strong because most people here sound more Cardiff than I do (and I hate the way it sounds :(  not as bad as Swansea though!)


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## Tailsy (May 23, 2010)

Kratos Aurion said:


> Presumably the standard accent is the baseline from which other accents are deviating. If you equate standard with unaccented, then when you're asked what "accent" you have, you're asked about your deviation from the standard.
> 
> That isn't the correct definition of accent, and I know that, but at least in the United States a Standard/General AmE accent is often considered "unaccented" or even "proper". Ask an American whether or not I speak with an accent, and they will probably say no.
> 
> EDIT:


... So you're just explaining why people erroneously tell others that they have 'no accent'? Er, okay, then. I have no beef?


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## Blastoise Fortooate (May 23, 2010)

Whatever accent I have is pretty undefinable, as I was born in the North but raised in the South.

So, yeah, people around here say that I sound like a yankee and people up there get offended when I call them "Ma'am". :/ So it's basically some ungodly mix of northern and southern accents that generally just sounds like a monotone/the baseline American English accent.


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## Shiny Grimer (May 23, 2010)

General American, but with some weird touches:

I tend to affricate my 'd's before  so that "I do" sounds like [aɪ dzu]. My 'd' and 't' are also more dental than alveolar.

My 'r' is a bunched r (retroflex approximant is the term, I think?) compared to the usual alveolar approximant.

I flap my 't's even in situations where most Americans would prefer to glottalize the t and go with a syllabic n. I would say "gotten" as ['gɑɾɨn] rather than ['gɑtn:] (syllabic 'n' is rare in my accent).

I call frying pans "saucepans".

Sometimes I randomly adopt English intonation, especially when asking questions. I don't do it on purpose; it comes from having watched English shows, I suppose.

My accent's not really that exciting, honestly. :x Someone once mistook me for an Irishwoman "because of my accent" (???) and someone else once said I sounded like I was from the north-east of the US. I grew up in South Florida.


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## Jolty (May 23, 2010)

Brock said:


> I used to have Australian, but had random British (yes there is a difference)


ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff


mine is typical northern English but it randomly goes Yorkshire, Scouse or Brummie at times lol.


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## Greed (May 23, 2010)

I can also do other accents from different countries


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## Goldenpelt (May 23, 2010)

General American accent that can sometimes slip into a Dixie accent for a word or so.


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## Esque (May 23, 2010)

Standard american, except...
I never look at the dictionary pronunciation guides, so I say a lot of words wrong.  A word with more than three syllables, when I say it, will always have the first syllable long and the last syllable short.
Also, I've been taking Latin, so I roll my r's a little, v's are pronounced like w's, and all vowels are pronounced a little funny...
Most of my a's make the sound you think of in 'father'.
e's make an 'eh' sound.
i's make whatever sound they feel like, and o's are the same way.
I'm not really sure what sound u's make, but my y's sound rather sharp.

Also, whenever I feel strongly about something, I start speaking in a monotone and use words like 'ma'am' and 'sir' and 'please' and 'acknowledge' a lot more.  Especially when I'm angry.  Yeah.  (Crazy, I know right?)

And when I'm happy I squeak.

And I also have a stage voice, which is completely iambic.  Yup.


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## Harlequin (May 23, 2010)

Rasrap Smurf said:


> Welsh accent. Cardiffian specifically but it isn't very strong because most people here sound more Cardiff than I do (and I hate the way it sounds :(  not as bad as Swansea though!)



hahahahahahahaha swansea accents are fucking terrible.

I have a Welsh valleys accent, specifcally an Afan valley accent. WELSH ACCENTS ARE INCREDIBLY NUMEROUS AND VARIED.


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## Music Dragon (May 24, 2010)

I'm not entirely sure. I normally talk very fast, but English doesn't come naturally enough for me for that to work, so everything tends to come out pretty garbled. I'd say American with bits of British, French and Obvious Non-Native Speaker thrown in.

And yes, I am aware that simply saying "American" and "British" doesn't convey much to a person who actually lives in the US/UK. Bear with me.


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## Vipera Magnifica (May 24, 2010)

I have a very adaptable accent. I used to have a general Australian accent, but since I moved to the US, I have a California accent, and have no trace of my Aussie accent. Even when I am talking to someone with a strong accent, I find myself somewhat mimicking them. I can imitate about any accent, especially British, French, Southern US, or Russian.


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## see ya (May 24, 2010)

Mine's kind of hard to judge, as it's pretty generically-American. However, if I just don't care, I tend to slip into a Southern accent. (I say "ain't", "y'all", "ma'am", and drop "g"s from the end of words a lot) My southern accent isn't really what you typically think of one, though. It's Southern Illinois southern, which is sort of like the bastard child of Midwestern and Dixie. It's a grating sound and I try to distance myself from it as much as possible.


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## Tarvos (May 24, 2010)

opaltiger said:


> First it was Australian. Then it was some unholy combination of Australian and Irish. Now it's more English than anything else, but not much of that either.


I hear a bit of Irish in it, but it's mostly... just...vaguely British? That's what I remember.

I have some cross between Canadian and English.


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## nastypass (May 25, 2010)

I've somehow managed to avoid the dreaded northeast Ohioan accent (for the most part), don't even ask me how.  General American, with a few touches of Pittsburgh here and there.  I can occasionally be caught throwing a 'yins' and 'annat' in here and there, but not nearly as often as my dad.


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## Not Meowth (May 25, 2010)

Generic southern English accent I guess. I've heard a specific "Oxfordshire accent" referred to once but whoever said it was probably just silly. I'm quite good at putting on accents, though.

(Also I love how typing in a west country accent makes you look a bit like a pirate.)


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## ... (May 25, 2010)

I have a rather basic Northern American accent, due to being born in New England, but then my family moved to the South when I was 6. Since then, my accent has sort of combined with a Southern accent, but it sort of comes and goes depending on who I'm talking to. It's really kind of strange; you'll hear me talking in a Northern accent when I'll say phrases like "y'all", "ain't", and "fixin'" out of nowhere, or you'll hear me speaking with a slight twinge of Southern when you'll hear me talking about "pop" instead of soda. Backwards of how it should be. Yeah.

Also, for some reason I'll never understand, when I sing in my extreme upper register, my voice suddenly snaps from a Northern accent to straight-up Irish. It wouldn't be so bad, except I'm a frickin' _falsetto_...and my voice CARRIES...so it truly is wierd, considering I have no ties to Ireland save through heritage. That's why I don't sing much, despite being a diehard fan of Journey and Def Leppard. So you'll hear me in the refrain: "Don't stop...believin'!" In a lilting Irish vernacular so it sounds like Lisa Kelly is doing warm-ups in the other room. o_O


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## Teh Ebil Snorlax (May 25, 2010)

I have an ever-so-slightly Anglicised and Americanised South Tipperary townie accent but I hang around with culchies a lot and my cousin is a scanger so I've picked up some of their mannerisms, it's really obvious when I say "Howeya?" or when I say "Yeh" instead of "Yeah". According to some of my American friends, my accent fits into the "stereotypically sexy Irish accent" category.


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## surskitty (May 25, 2010)

Bastard stepchild of various eastern US accents.


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## Chopsuey (May 26, 2010)

Standard English.

...most of the time. I spend too much time talking in either Australian or British accents, so sometimes I catch myself saying stuff like "a'ight then?". So Australian... sorta.

Oh, I also talk loud and squeak sometimes. And I growl when I'm mad. :x


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## Noctowl (May 26, 2010)

British. I tend to mainly have a southen accent, but I do say some words with a northen accept as I was born up north.


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## Lorem Ipsum (May 31, 2010)

A pretty generic English accent, although it's not estuary English (I don't drop my 't's etc.). And despite living in the Westcountry, I haven't picked up the pirate accent :D


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## Dannichu (Jun 1, 2010)

Arrrr I be westcountry pirrrrrrrrate! >D

Okay, not really. I have a fairly generic southern England accent, but pronounce my A's hard (as in, basket, bath, grass, etc.), which nobody else in my family does.


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## hopeandjoy (Jun 2, 2010)

I've heard British before, despite the fact I haven't had any English family since the Colonial Era.

In my own opinion, I have a standard American accent, it's just that I have a slight speech impediment. I might have a slight Southern accent, though.


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## Rai-CH (Jun 5, 2010)

I have an Australian accent, though it's not like the thick accents you hear in movies or on TV. I've had a few people ask me if I'm English, but the only people from England in my family (the grandparents) lost their accent many years before I was born so I have no idea where I might have picked it up.
I've attempted to imitate other accents though I'm limited to about one sentence per accent XD


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## Mustardear (Jun 5, 2010)

I have an English accent because I live quite close to London, although I like speaking in a posh old English accent sometimes.


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## Saith (Jun 5, 2010)

I'm not sure if a Gwent accent exists, but I sure as hell don't have any of the other Welsh accents, so it'll have to do.


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## Dragon On Steroids (Jun 5, 2010)

British, incredibly so.

We're talking proper londener here.


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## Chief Zackrai (Jun 5, 2010)

I've got a smart-person accent :| Not like the uber-nerd lisp and nasal problems accent, but like, I tend to talk to people like I'm smarter than them (but I AM smarter than most of the people I'm forced to be around, it seems...) Also, I can do a great Scottish accent when I wish. I say coyote differently than anyone I know. Instead of saying it Kai-o-tea I say Koi-oh-teh. I suppose I have English undertones in my accent because I say buried "Brried" and neither "Naither" most of the time. All I know is that my ancestors cam from a lot of different places ranging from Ireland to Sweden.


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## Sage Noctowl (Jun 5, 2010)

I've got an "Inland North American", according to Wikipedia, but I sometimes use the reflexive, "eh?"


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## Jolty (Jun 5, 2010)

Dragon On Steroids said:


> British, incredibly so.
> 
> We're talking proper londener here.


the stereotypical kind, or the kind that makes me want to punch people??


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## Minish (Jun 5, 2010)

Zackrinian said:


> I suppose I have English undertones in my accent because I say buried "Brried" and neither "Naither" most of the time.


I say 'neether' and I'm English... and I say 'berried'.


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## H-land (Jun 5, 2010)

According to Wikipedia, I should have a Northern Midland American accent, since I've been raised outside Columbus, although mom's side of the family came from west of Pittsburgh, but I was born in Marietta, just across the river from West Virginia, and my dad came from around there, too. So normally, I speak some flavor of Northern Midland American with a touch of Appalachian. Occasionally, however, I lapse into full-on Appalachian or whatever happens across my tongue. Like Horrifically Fake Australian. 

If you really care about details, caught sounds like cot, always, roof sounds like rūf, I call soft drinks pop, or sodas, depending on how I'm feeling, I often say y'all when I feel like I can get away with it, I say "greasy" as "grē-zē", occasionally interchange "carry" with "tote" or slur "pen" into "pin", use firefly and lightning bug interchangeably, and I think I may have run the sweeper once or twice, and I berry things in the dirt more often than I bury them. I also occasionally string together words into such... phrases as "I'm'a gonna" (I am going to, pronounced ayeh'm-uh-guhn'a) and "I'd've" (I would have, pronounced aye'duhve), but I'm not sure that so much vernacular as just me. 

Then there was the time I visited Ireland for a week, and at the end of it, I found myself speaking in an Irish accent to my roommate for a minute before I realized that I was doing it and made myself stop. Now I can't do an Irish accent anymore. Horribly contagious, but so hard to emulate.

But now I'm just rambling.


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## Chief Zackrai (Jun 5, 2010)

Oh, well, that's how my grandpa says it, and he's entirely English.


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## Crazy Linoone (Jun 6, 2010)

I speak Generic American, but with a bite more "like" and "guys" and "dude" than Generic American. I don't know if I have a Californian accent (whatever that is) or not, but I definitely don't have the Valley Girl or Surfer Dude accents. 

I tend to pronounce things wrong a lot of the time and mumble my way through words I don't know. Also, I slaughter grammar when I talk, which makes myself sad because I'd know that I've just killed grammar but it'd be too late to fix.


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## Flora (Jun 10, 2010)

I have a _bit_ of a Philadelphia accent, apparently. I have no idea what the rest is.


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## Cap'n Sofa (Jun 11, 2010)

I don't even know. A combination of stuff from the northern United States and southern Canada, I guess. Maybe a few bits from some English dialects, I really don't know. I'm in an area where most speak Inland North American, linked above, but I tend to pronounce things a bit differently. One notable example is the word "interesting". Most around me say "IN-tra-sting", but I say "IN-te-rest-ing".


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## Karkat Vantas (Jun 11, 2010)

I sound vaguely British and pronounce my long i's like an Australian person. Which is bizarre because I have no British ancestry.


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## Sandora (Jun 12, 2010)

-shrugs- I know I have a European accent of some sort, but I'm not sure from where exactly. 
It comes out strongly only when I'm not paying close attention to what I'm talking about. ^^;
People sometimes tell me that it's more noticeable in vowels, such as saying _and_ would sound like _aynd_.


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## Minish (Jun 12, 2010)

Kammington said:


> I sound vaguely British and pronounce my long i's like an Australian person. Which is bizarre because I have no British ancestry.


How can you sound British? o_O You mean like, English or something?


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## Harlequin (Jun 12, 2010)

Kammington said:


> I sound vaguely British and pronounce my long i's like an Australian person. Which is bizarre because I have no British ancestry.


Ancestry doesn't determine accent.


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## Zuu (Jun 12, 2010)

my friend in Washington insists I say "ten" oddly, but I'm convinced that has more to do with the nasally property my voice has rather than any accent.

I'm from Texas, but I don't sound Texan, or at least I've never been told that.


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## Phantom (Jun 12, 2010)

I have a good 'ol "Minnesotah" accent... though you wouldn't catch me saying "you betcha".... that's just weird. 

My family says I say the word "tour" weird. I say it like "I tore a page out of a book" my family says it's "two-or". *shrugs*


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## Flygon1 (Jun 12, 2010)

Southern Californian accent here. This slightly differentiates from Northern Californian in that we pronounce "leisure" lee-zhur and "measure" meh-zhur, whereas Northern Californians pronounce them "lay-zhur" and "may-zhur". Otherwise it just sounds like standard American, despite what any surf movies may tell you.


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## opaltiger (Jun 13, 2010)

Flygon said:


> Southern Californian accent here. This slightly differentiates from Northern Californian in that we pronounce "leisure" lee-zhur and "measure" meh-zhur, whereas Northern Californians pronounce them "lay-zhur" and* "may-zhur"*. Otherwise it just sounds like standard American, despite what any surf movies may tell you.


_what_


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## Porygon (Jun 14, 2010)

Plain old standard American. :/


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## WWKÜλ (Jun 14, 2010)

A mix between German, Irish, Russian, Aussie, and a hint of Spanish.


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## ElectricTogetic (Jun 20, 2010)

I'm from houston, Texas... and i say 'ain't', 'gonna', and a lot of other southern-y things too, and i say my long i's like a's sometimes... so... southern, i guess?? although i hang around my grandma a lot, so i sometimes have some british-ish tones thrown in.


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